Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett
(1884-1969), NovelistSitter in 12 portraits
One of the most important and challenging novelists of the period, Compton-Burnett's fiction is distinguished by the use of a bare prose structure that concentrates on dialogue and dispenses with plot and description. Between 1925 and 1963 she produced a new novel nearly every two years, including A Family and a Fortune (1939) and Mother and Son (1955). Often set in Victorian country houses, Compton-Burnett remarked that she had little knowledge of life 'later than about 1910'. Despite this, the family tensions explored in her books, reflecting her own unhappy youth, resonated with a contemporary audience.
by Lee Miller
modern contact print from original negative, 1943
NPG P1077
by Irving Penn
gelatin silver print, 1958
NPG P1397
by Howard Coster
bromide print, 1942
NPG x1773
by Howard Coster
quarter-plate film negative, 1942
NPG x3348
by Howard Coster
quarter-plate film negative, 1942
NPG x3349
by Howard Coster
quarter-plate film negative, 1942
NPG x3350
by John Vere Brown
bromide fibre print, 1964
NPG x68290
by John Vere Brown
bromide fibre print, 1964
NPG x36233
by John Vere Brown
bromide fibre print, 1964
NPG x36234
by Walter Bird
bromide print
NPG x6344
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